Negative self talk is hard to stop, but at least now you have a fun way to stop it!
Sports psychologists have known for decades that the mind can:
- Only have one thought at a time and
- It cannot focus on the REVERSE of an idea or thought.
What that means if you are a squash player, is that if you say “don’t tin the ball, or don’t choke or don’t boast“, the brain only hears “tin the ball, or choke or boast.”
You need to replace your negative statements with positive affirmation statements, as suggested below.
| Negative self talk | Positive Affirmation |
| Damn it! | OK, next point. |
| F$@##$#%#!!! | FOCUS! |
| Idiot /Stupid | C’mon, you can do better! |
| Bad shot | Think of the RIGHT shot |
| Shot is too good | Next time I will be ready |
| Can’t get there | I almost got to it |
| Lucky shot | I’m next to get lucky |
| Bad call (by the ref) | The next call will go my way |
| No let?!?!? | Next time I will strike the ball |
| Stroke?!?!? | OK now I know how he’s calling it (the ref) |
| It was up! | I know it was up, the next time he will too! |
| (Serve called down/out) | Focus – this is an EASY error to fix! |
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